


The Sky's the Limit, but Kindly Hurry the Fuck Up

by TaikoTurtle



Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: F/F, Karolina POV, Karolina is indecisive, but we all know how this'll end, deanoru - Freeform, genie au, haha - Freeform, i guess also in the title, maybe some language warning, parents aren't evil, universe is a mixture of the TV and comic, whoops, will be a quick fluffy story for the most part
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-16
Updated: 2018-01-16
Packaged: 2019-03-05 18:26:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13393656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaikoTurtle/pseuds/TaikoTurtle
Summary: As Karolina heads into her senior year of high school, she stumbles across a magic lamp of sorts at a local antiques shop. Indecisive as ever, she's granted 3 wishes from a powerful genie and told to use them wisely.Yeah sure, no pressure at all.





	The Sky's the Limit, but Kindly Hurry the Fuck Up

**Author's Note:**

> Eyyyy
> 
> So I've turned into Deanoru trash. I really wanted to write something and I saw a prompt that caught my eye, so here's part 1. I hope you all enjoy it, and feel free to drop some comments!

“I don’t know why you enjoy coming here so often,” Gert remarks dryly, her nose wrinkling with distaste. “Everything looks so… cheap.”

Karolina’s curious eyes scan the uneven shelves littered with rustic knick-knacks and forsaken possessions, a bemused smile tugging at her lips. “I think they’re charming.”

She taps a dusty bobble-head dog and watches as the figurine shakes erratically in response. 

Gert snorts. “I think you’re crazy.”

It’s a quaint, hole-in-the-wall antiques shop that Karolina discovered one day in the summer following her junior year of high school. With her desire to stay in shape and the weather posing an irresistibly perfect afternoon, she had laced up her shoes and left the house to go on a spontaneous jog. 

There was no destination in mind, no route had been set - she just wanted to feel the sun on her skin and the breeze in her hair as she continued to count down the days before the beginning of her senior year.

The large, picturesque homes of her neighborhood gave way to stretches of open parks as she snaked her way out of the residential area and headed towards the beach. Crowded shopping centers bustled with activity and cars honked madly at one another as they lined up in hopes of cramming their way into congested parking lots before the guards could pull out the dreaded ‘Lot is Full’ sign.

Nameless faces zipped on by as she turned down different streets on a whim, feet pounding evenly against the pavement, her playlist of popular pop songs blasting from her earbuds and providing an upbeat soundtrack to accompany the day.

Thirty, maybe forty-five minutes passed - roughly judging from the eight songs listened to completion - before miniature glass animal figurines, glinting on display in a surprisingly dimly-lit storefront caught her attention. It must have been the way the sun caught at just the right angles through the scratched, smudged windows, but it was enough to draw her in. Before she knew it, her hand was on the rusted handle and into the mysterious establishment she went.

A bell jingled upon entry and blinking rapidly to adjust to the stark contrast in lighting - or lackthereof - inside, Karolina took in her surroundings with eager fascination. In its entirety, the store was even smaller than she anticipated. 

Three measly aisles barely shoulder-width length apart at best, had Karolina turning to the side in order to let a customer inside pass by to exit. An old cash register sat on a counter at the back of the store manned by a homely old man with silvery grey hair and red, thick rimmed glasses.

Despite the musty smell that enveloped her senses and the decidedly cramped feeling bearing down on her space, Karolina couldn’t help the enthralling wonder surging through her body as she perused the items up for sale. 

It was definitely not her typical scene, but fifteen minutes later she ended up leaving with a plastic bag in hand containing a bronze, pocket-sized paperweight in the shape of a star. Whipping out her phone, Karolina saved the location on her map and made it a point to come back once in awhile just to see what else might catch her interest.

“Why do I always let you drag me to this store?” Gert muses to herself as she vigorously shakes a foggy snow globe and watches a winter wonderland come to life. 

“Because you’re my friend and that’s what friends do.” Karolina gazes up at the shelves lining the walls, the stock looking relatively the same as the couple weeks before. “Or because Chase had plans today so you were free. I like to think it’s the former reason, but hey whatever works, right?”

Smirking to herself, Gert nods and sets down the globe. “Yeah, sure.”

At Karolina’s constant urging, last year Gert finally worked up the nerve to ask Chase out and after a couple of only slightly disastrous dates and several miscommunications later, the couple ironed out their issues. Though Karolina missed hanging out with her friend as often as they used to, Gert seemed genuinely happy and that’s all that really mattered. 

“Hey, get a load of this,” Gert says as she lifts up an old rectangular camera with the word Mamiya at the top. “Wonder if it still works?” 

Her fingers fiddle clumsily with the latches to test if the film loader still functions properly and Karolina turns just in time to watch in horror as a knob pops off and clatters to the floor. They stare wide-eyed at each other for a split second like deer caught in a headlight before Gert hastily shoves the camera back down on the shelf and walks away without another word, fleeing the scene like a guilty culprit. 

Karolina glances at the store owner who, much to their great fortune, is engaged in deep conversation with another customer and failed to notice that anything is amiss. Sighing with relief, she reaches down to pick up the broken piece but as she grasps it in her hand, that’s when she notices something new on the bottom level of the display.

Her knees crack as she crouches down to get a better look. Tucked behind a plastic toy, the item in question is a small iron teapot adorned with a beautifully crafted design featuring overlapping clouds and a creature that looks like a hooved dragon with flowing flames. She doesn’t know whether she failed to notice it before because of its hidden placement or if it is simply a rather recent addition, but as her fingers ghost over the intricate details, she feels oddly compelled to add it to her room. 

She knows it will clash tremendously with the pastel pinks and rose gold decor that she normally is so fond of, but with a price tag of only five dollars she doesn’t really care. Considering Gert may or may not have just broken an already old camera, it’s the least she can do to make it up to the shop owner. 

Carefully maneuvering the other merchandise out of the way, Karolina pulls the teapot out and, after setting the broken knob down next to the camera, makes her way to the counter to pay.

The old man lifts up his glasses and squints at the product, his brow furrowing in confusion.

“Hm, don’t remember this being here, though with all the junk I’ve got lying around I’m not surprised. It’s quite a beauty; good find.”

He punches in the numbers on the rickety cash register and the drawer springs open. 

Karolina smiles sheepishly and motions behind her. “Yep. And just to let you know, my friend was uh...  _ looking _ at one of the cameras over there and something popped off. I’m not sure if it’s really broken or not but I just thought I’d let you know.”

Chuckling lightly to himself, the store owner bobs his head knowingly. “That happens from time to time, don’t you worry.”

He hands her the bag with the teapot and she thanks him graciously before squeezing her way through the aisles to exit the store.

The door jingles behind her on the way out and Gert rushes to her side.

“Dude, what took you so long? Did you get caught?”

“Don’t worry, the camera was already broken,” Karolina reassures her while shaking her head. “It wasn’t your fault. I was actually in there because I found a pretty vintage teapot, check it out.”

She fishes it out of the bag with a broad smile on her face as if she just struck gold, however Gert’s face contorts with mild aversion the moment she lays eyes on the item in question. Her head tilts to the side as she studies the design like an expert curator before ultimately shrugging nonchalantly.

“One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.”

Karolina grins and nudges her playfully. “Don’t be a jerk.”

“Don’t buy rusty pieces of junk,” Gert fires back without missing a beat.

“Fair enough,” Karolina acquiesces, “but I’ll have you know, this piece of junk will look great next to my bronze star. Probably. Well ,  maybe – we’ll see.”

Stowing away the teapot for safekeeping, the girls go about the rest of their afternoon, enjoying some casual shopping and a quick ice cream break, however with it being a Sunday and just the second week of school, a text from Gert’s parents beckons her home and they’re forced to call it a day.

The sun is already dipping below the horizon by the time Karolina returns home with more bags filled with new clothes bumping against the teapot and her leg as she struggles to close the front door behind her.

“Karolina honey, is that you?” Her mom’s voice echoes from somewhere near the kitchen. “Are you hungry? We’re ordering in today for dinner.”

“Yes, I’ll be here,” Karolina replies as she trudges up the stairs. She vaguely hears her mom mention something about pizza, but she’s already turning the corner and heading down the hallway leading to her room before she can catch any more of the sentence.

She sets the bags down on the plush carpet carefully, the combined weight a reminder of the successful shopping ventures with Gert. Flopping backwards onto her bed, she stares up at her ceiling and tries not to let her fear of the future sink in too deeply.

Senior year.

It’s the year she should be figuring out what to do with her life, what career paths she needs to take, overall goals and aspirations she wants to achieve, and yet wrapping her head around such heavy choices so early on seems like an impossible task. Only a rare few actually know what they definitively want to pursue, and even then reaching out and grabbing it is another feat in and of itself. 

Karolina? She doesn’t know _what_ she wants.

She’s never been all that great at figuring out her desires and though society dictates that you should be prepared to be an adult, she most certainly doesn’t feel that way, not even in the slightest. There’s so many things she has yet to experience, so many things she doesn’t know, and yet she’s expected to go into the world as if she does.

“I don’t feel like I’m ready,” she mutters into the vast emptiness of her room.

There’s nothing she can do except roll with the punches.

Sighing heavily, Karolina turns her head to the side and stares blankly at her desk, to the pens sitting neatly in the clear holder and the fake, pristine white flowers contained in a glass vase. It’s all so perfect, so organized. A reflection of the life she’s supposed to lead, but incongruent with the volatile emotions buzzing in her chest.

Her eyes land on the bronze star and she remembers the trinket she purchased earlier that day.

Hoisting herself up with somewhat renewed vigor, she slides off the bed and reaches into the bag, her palms running over the coarse texture of the iron teapot with anticipation. She sets it down on her desk next to the star paperweight and takes a step back to get a good look at it. 

Her shoulders deflate with disappointment; sure enough it sticks out like a sore thumb against the white of her table and the bright, glittering colors of the other accessories. It looks considerably uglier in her room as opposed to the rustic charm it seemingly held in the antiques store and Gert's disgusted reaction springs up in her memory.

Maybe there really isn’t a place for this in her life.

“No, maybe I can just…”

She approaches the table and snatches up the teapot in her hands. Holding it up to eye level, she analyzes the exterior and wonders if there’s anything that can be done, and while it seems utterly stupid given that it’s iron, against her better judgment she brings it in close and rubs at a rough edge several times with her sleeve.

All that achieves is transferring a dark smudge onto her clothes and Karolina groans because _ of course _ , she’s so dense, why did she even entertain the idea that that would help clean anything? It's not like it's even a shiny object with a surface that can be polished. What was she thinking?

But then the teapot begins to warm in her hands and the small lid starts shaking in its place, jarring her out of her self-deprecating thoughts.

“What the…?”

Karolina all but drops the quaking teapot onto her desk, backing away slowly as the trembling continues to magnify. All she can think about is how she’s too young to die and that her senior year just barely began, and then there’s smoke - a thin, whispy stream - shooting out of the spout in a rapid vortex. It's like a mini twister of sorts and it all seems too surreal because none of this makes any  _sense_ , like someone's playing some elaborate prank on her.

Except it's not a prank. In fact, it's very real. 

_ She's _  very real.

Next thing Karolina knows, there’s a stranger standing in her room.

Clad head to toe in black attire, from her boots to her jacket to the choker on her neck, the girl cocks her head to the side, yielding a loud satisfying crack, before stretching her arms out fully as if waking up from the longest sleep of her life. Her piercing gaze is dark and intense and it sends a shiver down Karolina's spine like a freezing gale in the dead of winter.

“Thanks for releasing me from that hell hole, I owe you one.” The stranger’s lips tug up into a crooked smirk. “Or maybe three.”

Karolina gulps audibly.

_ What the fuck. _

 


End file.
